As they attempt to stand out from their competition, job applicants must appreciate the importance of persistence and positive impression management. Job applicants must be concerned with the way they conduct themselves both during and after work hours. They must, for example, have voice mail greetings, email addresses, and Facebook content that will not turn off potential employers .

Job applicants must take enough time to create good resumes that are customized for each job application and make sure they edit these resumes for mistakes.

When possible, job candidates should personally deliver their resumes along with a handshake, if possible. If that is not possible, job candidates should send their resumes by certified mail with return receipts required.

Job applicants might sometimes make follow up phone calls and ask if there are any questions about their delivered resumes. If the job candidates call before 8 am or after 5 pm, when administrative assistants are less likely to be at work, the job candidates might have chances to talk to the potential employers. At the very least, the job candidates might get their resumes out of the stacks of resumes for individual attention from the potential employers.

When job candidates get a chance to interview, they should be prepared for and skilled in the different types of interviews. While waiting for their interviews, job candidates should make good impressions on the receptionists, because receptionists often are asked for their opinions of job candidates.

Maintaining good mental and physical health is essential. Being depressed, desperate, and physically ill is not the way to impress potential employers during a job interview.

After the interview, job candidates should record the names of the interviewers, and any impressions or important information that surfaced during the interview. Doing this immediately, while memories are still fresh, is important.

Also after the interviews, job candidates should write thank you letters to each person who interviewed them. In addition, job candidates eventually might make a follow-up call to make known to the employers any recent and relevant skills or training, such as CLEP tests that they have passed since their interviews. If given the chance, job candidates should re-emphasize their strengths and counter any weaknesses that came up during their interviews.

Such persistence can make a job candidates stand out. If, however, job candidates come to believe that they are being perceived as pests, they should assume a lower profile.

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Daniel Vale has a PhD in Counselor Education and 27 years of successful university and government experience as a career consultant, graduate school instructor, trainer, and educational administrator. His nearly 500 workshops have been on topics such as career and personality testing, interviewing, stress management, career transition, writing skills, time management, study skills, and interpersonal communication.